Chirping noise coming from iPad 2

My focus on this issue is getting sharper. But, still...no solution. Here is the latest:

1) It appears the double chirping occurs only from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM...every hour on the hour PRECISELY.

2) Instead of turning off all notifications in settings I decided to turn off notifications in settings one app at a time in the hope that I could find the offending app. I had about 25 apps listed under notifications. So, this took a while. Luckily not all of those apps had notifications on to begin with.

3) I eventually turned off notifications in all the apps that had them originally on. The hourly double chirp still persisted.

4) Then I did turn off notifications completely. I didn't see how this would be different than turning off notifications for each app individually, but I thought there might be some app ruining my life in a more hidden fashion. This didn't work. Even with notifications off globally the double chirping persisted.

5) So, I thought this might not be a notification issue but a "Timer App" issue. Sorta like setting your watch to chime on the hour (that doesn't explain why it only happens from 9 AM to 6 PM but what the heck). I checked the settings on all my timer apps and for the life of me I couldn't find anything where I could set the iPad 2 to chirp on the hour. And I definitely couldn't find any setting where I could set the time span over which the hourly chirping would occur.

So, that's the story, morning glories.

This is actually more than just annoying. I am a teacher and use the iPad 2 in my teaching quite a bit. So, it is in my class all day. Having a loud double chirp occur every hour during the school day is not a dream situation when working with teens! Any excuse to get distracted will be seized by them with the passion of a rabid Yankee fan. 🙂

I could try deleting all my timer apps. See what happens then. Maybe there is a hidden setting in one of those apps I don't see. I might do that in the absense of some insight from readers of this post.

And on top of all this the Yankees got rained out on Friday night. 😟

Things are just going from bad to worse.

Again...HOW CAN I BE THE ONLY PERSON ON THE PLANET EXPERIENCING THIS? Does someone have a voodoo doll in my image and is sticking "chirping pins" in it?

Well, it's past 6:00 pm. I am safe from the chirping chimichangas until tomorrow at 9:00 am. What a day. Wait! I forgot one more "clue." This morning, at precisely 7:21 am I was attacked by a Ninja Deer while having coffee in my front yard. I do not jest. No I don't. That bad boy (actually it was a doe) came from out of the woods at full throttle and rammed me. I have the bruise on my side as proof (you'll have to take my word on that). My coffee cup...you can kiss that goodbye. It was launched and returned to earth in a hundred java coated pieces. I only mention this because as unrelated to my chirping as it may seem...one man's encounter with a Ninja Deer is another person's magic clue as to why my iPad 2 has become possessed.

Perhaps.

In last week's episode we learned the following:

1) Two loud Crickett Chirps are emitted by the iPad 2 every hour on the hour from, and including, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. No chirps at any other time.

2) If you go to Settings>Notifications and turn Notifications globally off the Chirping continues. This is despite the fact that doing so supposidely "disables Sounds, Alerts and Home Screen Badges" for all Applications.

3) If you go to Settings>Notifications and individually turn off all Notifications for all Apps listed the Chirping also continues.

Now for this week's episode:

1) I turned the iPad 2's volume all the way down to off. This is the volume as controled by the rocker switch on the side of the iPad. Result...Chirping continued and at the same loud volume as always.

2) I went to Settings>General>Sounds and turned the "Ringer and Alerts" volume all the way down to off. Result...Chirping DISAPPEARED!

OMG and WTHeck! Turning off Notifications is supposed to disable Sounds, Alerts and Home Screen Badges. But, it does NOT disable my Double Chirping. But, turning the sound off for the Ringer and Alerts does kill the chirping. This has to be an important clue as it seems to imply a contradiction. Turning off Notifications disables Alerts. But not my chirping. Turning the volume all the way down on Alerts does kill the chirping sound. Wouldn't you think DISABLING an alert would be as potent a chirp killer as turning the volume of the alerts all the down? Hm....

It's as though there is an app lurking somewhere that doesn't reveal itself to the iPad as having Notications/Alerts so it slips by the tactic of turning off Notifications/Alerts. But, turning the volume of alerts to off catches the offending app.

I have an All Star collection of Forum Peeps reading this thread. Look at all those points you have earned...over FIFTY THOUSAND! (Yes, I counted. It's incredible.) If you can't solve this...NO ONE CAN.

PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. HELP!

My only other option has already been stated. Sell my iPad 2 for Yankee tickets. But, the Yankee's lost to Detroit today. What's the point of jumping from one sinking ship onto another. 😢

What is going on here? My last two posts were labeled as "Helpful Answers." They weren't "Helpful Answers." They were supplying data for others to use to create a Helpful Answer for me. Crazier still, I was cited as the person noting them as "Helpful Answers." What! I like myself...but not that much. This is crazy. I have enough problems with cricketts in my iPad. Please ignore my mysterious and totally unintended self-aggrandizement.

Thanks Whataboutme,

As this process moved along the option of a reset did cross my mind. But, and maybe I am mistaken about this, my understanding of a reset is that whereas I will be able to retain all my apps, songs, pics, etc. by making sure I do a backup sync first, I will lose all my settings within my apps, my e-mail accounts, settings in general that are not default settings, etc. That sends a shiver down my spine as I am in charge of a pilot iPad project at my school. My iPad is loaded with information that I believe would be lost in a reset. Information that would take an incredibly long time to reinstall...assuming I remember it all! If I am wrong about this, please let me know and explain how I can retain all my non-default settings, e-mail accounts, etc. Of course, if push comes to shove and no one can identify the offending character in this play a reset may be my only course of action. I would probably wait to download iOS 5 before doing that...hoping that somehow this major iOS change might remove the problem. If it doesn't, your reset idea looks to be the only option. Thanks for the suggestion.

Mr. Luigi

Dear Chris CA,

Thanks a ton for enlighting me about the option to reset rather than restore. I did not know of the reset functionality. I do every once in a while shut down my iPad by holding those two buttons. But, when the slider appears I slide the baby to shut the iPad off. I didn't know continued pressing would send you into a reset mode. I just tried that and have 26 minutes to go before the next scheduled Double Chirp. It will be VERY INTERESTING to see if a reset fixes this.

I have never interacted with a Level 9 Grand Master on this Forum before. 🙂 That represents a lot of help for a lot of people. I hope you know that we Level 1 Bottom Feeders really appreciate having access to folks with that level of expertise and generosity with their time.

Thanks again, Mr. Luigi

Dear Caspar,

At this point, all options are open. I did go to Angry Birds on my iPad but could not find any setting that appeared to be able to cause a Double Chirp. If the reset idea doesn't work, I could always delete Angry Birds (Cricketts?) and see what happens.

I have nothing to lose.

Hi Chris,

Alas, the reset appears to not have worked. I'll wait one more hour and check again as perhaps one of my students was trying to mess my life up at 1:00 PM by imitating a crickett. But, right now, it looks gloomy.

Mr. Luigi

Hi Chris,

Yes, I have tried that. In fact, when I tried your reset idea, I first cleared out the multitasking bar. I had also just cleared out the multitasking bar earlier with no reset. Sadly, neither worked.

But, again, thanks for the idea. Sooner or later something is going to work.

I wish the chirping occured every minute. That way, I could remove one app at a time and in relatively short order hopefully find the offending app (if indeed it is an app!).

OK, here is my plan. The prospect of systematically removing apps in the hope of identifying the offending app (if indeed it is an app) is a somewhat daunting task as I have hundreds of apps. Doing a restore has the liability of potentially just reinstalling the offending setting (if indeed it is a setting) unless I leave out that type of material from the restore. That also implies more work than I am excited about.

So, with iOS 5 just around the corner and considering the magnitude of this iOS upgrade I am going to just wait for iOS 5 to be released. Do the download. And then pray that somehow, someway this new operating system also brings relief from my mysterious crickett noise.

If that doesn't work.

I'm selling my iPad 2 for Yankee tickets and this mystery will forever remain that...a mystery. Jack the Ripper...Part II.

Will let all of you know how it goes after iOS 5 comes out.

P.S. I can't believe the iPhone 4S will not have a bigger screen. I am distraught, dazed, and confused. Sorry...I digress.

Shush now! You'll blow my cover. 😎

Speaking of Covers...how many of those points do you have to earn before qualifying for a custom avatar? My Saturn avatar is just not doing it for me. I think I have earned 5 points. How close am I? 😁